Rogers Media today cut 100 jobs from its TV operations across the country today, with most pink slips hitting employees at its multilingual OMNI operations and other stations out West.
CRTC documents note Rogers Media lost $85.8 million before interest and taxes in its TV operations in 2014, taking the majority of the brunt from Canada’s conventional private TV stations, reports The Globe and Mail.
During a presentation to the CRTC one year ago, Keith Pelley, the president of Rogers Media, said OMNI “is in a financial crisis” as ad revenues had plummeted more than 50 per cent in only two years, dropping from more than $80-million in 2011 to less than $35-million in the 2013-14 broadcast year.
Keith Pelley, the head of the Rogers Media division, last month announced he would be leaving the company to head up the global golf tour, the European Tour. He helped orchestrate the company’s mammoth $5.2 billion, 12-year licensing deal with the NHL (which many think needs lots of work, as Strombo just doesn’t cut it).
The Financial Post reported last month sources noted Pelley decided to leave Rogers for more money at the European Tour and “because he’s a long fan of golf.” The source noted “Rogers Media is a tough business and there are some legacy businesses that have to be dealt with and he’d prefer to do something else.”
It would almost appear Pelley saw the writing on the wall, and jumped ship from Rogers Media, given the mounting losses in the TV divisions. You have to feel for the employees that lost their jobs today.
